U.S. Vice President Mike Pence swore in Jerome Adams, MD, Tuesday as the next surgeon general of the United States.
Dr. Adams, an anesthesiologist by training, previously served as Indiana State Health Commissioner under Mr. Pence's leadership. "Dr. Jerome Adams is highly qualified not just to serve, but to succeed on behalf of the American people," Mr. Pence said in remarks at the swearing-in ceremony. "As I saw firsthand, Dr. Jerome Adams has an extraordinary gift for empathy, and he brought that gift to his years in public service."
During his tenure in Indiana, Dr. Adams helped reduce infant mortality, led the state through the Ebola crisis, contained the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus and helped stop an HIV epidemic in Scott County, which Mr. Pence called "the worst opioid-fueled-HIV epidemic ever to hit rural America."
"As we confronted this crisis, it was Dr. Adams who led from the front, who provided me and my team with expert advice. And I saw that empathy for which he is so widely known," Mr. Pence said.
Dr. Adams has served as an anesthesiologist at Indianapolis-based Eskenazi Hospital and an assistant professor of anesthesia at Indianapolis-based Indiana University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Dr. Adams said his motto as surgeon general will be, "Better health through better partnerships," inspired by his relationship with Mr. Pence in Indiana, where together they were able to improve health outcomes throughout the state.
"If the two of us could do that by working together and begin to have a positive influence on several health trends in our state, just imagine what all of us … could do if we simply would commit to not judging people, commit to coming together, commit to doing what we know is right in order to improve the health of the people of our country," Dr. Adams said.
Dr. Adams will serve a 4-year term, replacing Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, acting surgeon general. Dr. Adams is the second health official from Indiana tapped by the White House, after Seema Verma, who currently serves as CMS administrator.
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